Police: Littleton robber caught at bank across the road

LITTLETON -- It's slowly earning the reputation as the bank of choice for dumb criminals.

Less than a year after police easily tracked down a man accused of robbing Northern Bank & Trust on Great Road because he left behind his driver's license, another man was arrested after an attempted heist Tuesday morning because he decided the safest place to hide from police was at another bank across the street.

Deputy Police Chief Matthew King said Christopher Grannis, 25, fled Northern Bank & Trust with an undetermined amount of cash just before 11:30 a.m., when an employee dialed 911 to say Grannis was sprinting across the street.

King said it only took six minutes for four patrolmen to corner Grannis inside Citizens Bank, on the opposite side of Great Road.

Grannis, of 4 Cedar Road, allegedly handed a teller at Northern Bank a note demanding cash. King said the Littleton resident was arraigned in Ayer District Court on charges of unarmed robbery, witness intimidation and resisting arrest.

"Officers made it to the area in less than a minute," King said, adding that police quickly determined Grannis "had taken to hiding inside Citizens."

King said Grannis did not try to pull a similar stunt at Citizens.

At the time of the emergency call, King said, two officers were working a detail on Great Road, a short distance away. Two more officers were working a routine patrol nearby.

Grannis is no stranger to the law.

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In August 2005, he was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and armed robbery after he and another man stabbed a 15-year-old boy over $40 in cash at Father McGuire Park in Lowell. Grannis, 17 at the time, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison followed by three years probation.

In June 2008, Grannis was charged with robbery, conduct after an accident, first-degree assault, resisting arrest, negligent driving and theft by unauthorized taking following an attempted house burglary in Windham, N.H. Reports indicate Grannis, then 20, ran down a pedestrian who had tried to stop him and two other Littleton teens after they broke into a home on Lowell Road.

Officers used a Taser to "gain control of the suspect," according to a police statement.

In September 2008, Grannis was indicted by a Rockingham County Superior Court grand jury on charges of second-degree assault, reckless conduct, resisting arrest, attempted theft and robbery.

Last May, a Nashua man rushed the bank manager at Northern Bank & Trust before she could lock the door to the teller's counter.

Alexander Anderson, 26 at the time, had moments earlier presented his license in order to open a checking account.

Police said he made off with cash but forgot to grab his license. He was arrested less than two weeks later in Boston.

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